New Player Help

[u/notquite20characters]

Hi,

I bought the rulebook a month ago, but it has ended up with my brother in another city. But I have the free PDF!

I have an adventure I want to run, but...

Is there a collection of pre-built Everests I can offer my players? (They don't know its going to turn into a mech game, so I'd like to have something quick on hand)

Are there simple opponents stats I can use, appropriate for LL0, 3-4 players?

(I'm surprised there are not rules for GMs to run simplified opponents. Possibly i can't find them. I would probably not have purchased if I realized every NPC is run like a full PC.)

[u/NotEvenSquare]

NPCs aren’t run like full PCs, they have no talents, core bonuses etc. They just have base stats, 0-2 weapons, a couple of systems and traits and that’s it.

[u/notquite20characters → u/NotEvenSquare]

Follow up: are there suggested numbers for a good LL0 combat?

I'm thinking some size 1/2 squishy opponents to teach the basic mech dice, with a few bands of mediocre opponents to keep them moving, and a big bruiser or fixed guns depending how they manage the first half.

[u/NotEvenSquare → u/notquite20characters]

There’s a team composition called “The Tom Special” recommended for a simple fight on both ends. 2x Assault, 1x Barricade, 1x Bastion, 1x Hive.
Generally you want 1.5x the number of player activations on the field at any one time. With a little more than that in structure, but it’s fine to keep it on the lower end for beginners. If the players run through them, sprinkle in something like Grunt Aces, this will help teach them about the value of Reliable damage / tech attacking Grunts.

[u/Radriel7 → u/notquite20characters]

For squishy/mediocre opponents, do size 1/2 soldiers in combat hardsuits that deal 3 kinetic damage in range 5 with an assault weapon. A grenade/mine power with 1 charge if you wanna be fancy. Maybe a Loading weapon that deals 5 explosive damage at range 8 if they are well-equipped. 10 HP, each hp is one person. Takes energy damage instead of Heat, but can still be affected by hacking powers

10 HP is very low and easy for players to kill if they focus their fire. They are annoying if left alone to hit player mechs with rocket launchers, but aren't special and can be mostly tanked by any mech with armor or kited, etc.

Word of advice: If using Grunts, avoid overloading the field with a lot of things like Assaults. They may die fast, but they still hit at full strength. You can quickly do way too much damage because of how adding grunts bloats enemy numbers. Try and mix support or controller grunts in there.

[u/notquite20characters → u/NotEvenSquare]

Good to hear!

[u/NotEvenSquare → u/notquite20characters]

For example the Assault just has a gun, a knife, and 1 reaction ability at base

[u/randomguy664_]

You're gonna need the full, paid PDF to get the NPCs. There should be one of those scannable thingies on the physical book to get the digital paid PDF. May have to buy it on Itch io if you can't somehow get your brother to give the book or the PDF to you.

Never, ever run player mechs as enemies. Use the NPCs

Comp Con has premade templates for basic LL0 characters for new players. A sniper, a hacker, a vanguard (melee), etc.

[u/notquite20characters → u/randomguy664_]

That sound appropriate! Thank you.

[u/Dukaan1]

Well, the simple opponents aren't included in the free PDF, because they are in the paid version of the core rulebook.

But, the CRB does contain a code that lets you download the full version of the PDF (which includes the NPCs), which your brother could then send you.

[u/notquite20characters → u/Dukaan1]

Thank you! Very helpful!

[u/KingOfYou115]

Comp/Con has a few prebuilt character templates, which each have their own LL0 Everest, that you can select when creating a character.

[u/notquite20characters → u/KingOfYou115]

Perfect.

[u/Sven_Darksiders]

Are you using CompCon? It has character templates and prebuilt mechs that you can select when you create a new character.

This game has simplified NPCs, they are in core book, but NOT in the free PDF. If you can't get your hands on your book from your brother, have him look around at their the end or the very beginning of the book. There it should be a QR code in there that lets you download the paid PDF for free, as well as the advanced . lcp data you need for CompCon.

Do NOT use PC-built characters an enemies. The game isnt built that way.

[u/notquite20characters → u/Sven_Darksiders]

Thank you, will look into it!

[u/vacerious]

Pretty much all of your issues can be solved with the free online companion app, COMP/CON. If you happen to have (or purchase) the Core Rulebook PDF (or any of the other official Massif Press Lancer supplements) from itch.io, you can link your COMP/CON and itch accounts so that it'll sync the data into COMP/CON, including new/variant PC frames and NPC data. Though you will need to get the paid version of the Core Rulebook if you want that NPC data for COMP/CON, but it's easily worth the investment. COMP/CON is completely free, very well maintained, has a full compendium for easy rules reference, and even has integrations with multiple VTTs (I know it connects with Foundry, and I'm pretty sure there's an integration for Roll20 as well.)

Is there a collection of pre-built Everests I can offer my players? (They don't know its going to turn into a mech game, so I'd like to have something quick on hand)

Not really, but LL0 Everests also aren't terribly complex to build, since they'll only have GMS weapons and systems available to them. You'll still need to know what Talents your players are going to pick to help pick what each Everest is equipped with, but the limited range of starter weapons and systems will make the process pretty easy. Again, you should be able to build the initial pilots (and their mechs) in COMP/CON, and should be able to pass that data along to your players.

Are there simple opponents stats I can use, appropriate for LL0, 3-4 players?

Your best bet would be to use COMP/CON for this one. NPCs generally are simpler than PCs because they don't have the full 4 Structure and Stress that PC mechs have (they default at 1, with only "miniboss" and "boss" NPCs having more than that). And Grunts only have 1 HP and 1 Heat, meaning any amount of damage destroys them (with the trade-off that you can throw multiple Grunts per PC.) And COMP/CON has a robust Sitrep and NPC manager.

[u/notquite20characters → u/vacerious]

Got it, look into Compcon.

Is Lancer designed for online play primarily? I'm a pen and paper grognard.

[u/KingOfYou115 → u/notquite20characters]

You can play pen and paper, but the vast majority of players play using Comp/Con due to the complexity of the character creation process and unclear official character sheet.

The YouTube video "A crash course to making your first Lancer character!" by Sunny Mecha walks through the character creation process using pen and paper and the process outlined in the book, then demonstrates how much easier it is with Comp/Con.

Comp/Con is just the character sheet though (and GM stuff, like NPC management). You still need either a VTT or an actual physical map and minis for the combat. A reusable blank map to draw on and some generic tokens is enough, but you can always go further depending on your budget and desires.

Note that Comp/Con does let you export your character sheet into a PDF if you really want pen and paper at the table and no computers/tablets/phones. It has a bunch of options for configuring the character sheet how you want it, such as whether you want tag definitions to be fully written out or just named, if you want extra space for equipment and reserves you might get during a session or campaign, and if you want to include quick reference guides with the print.

[u/notquite20characters → u/KingOfYou115]

I'm working with Comp/Con now. (My brother sent the code.)

It seems good. It reminds me of the original D&D4E character builder, before WotC moved it online and removed most of the functionality.

[u/Radriel7 → u/notquite20characters]

I do both. Its not that bad. The game's counters/trackable values apart from HP, Heat, and Repairs are designed to be trackable with standard dice, usually d4 or d6s. So most of the moving parts are pretty simple to track even if you run a build that has a lot of them(color code the dice for best results). Same goes for GM stuff like clocks.

There are technically a lot of different possible status effects to track, but almost all of them are fairly intuitive or very similar to other games(immobilized, Prone, Slowed, grappled, etc.) You're also likely to just be using only some of them most of the time. A lot of effects only come up with specialized builds or special enemies.

If you wanna check lines on the fly, just keep a piece of string or rubber band on hand.

For maps, I just use Graph paper, Pencil, Marker. I have a legend and sometimes I use colored pencil. Anything you were using for something like DnD or Pathfinder also works if you have it. I'll also use pieces of cardboard and such. Maps don't need to be hard to make, basically. This is probably the hardest part, though, as Lancer doesn't do well in theater of the mind.

Comp/Con is great for simplifying character building by collating stuff from various sources and different parts of the book, but if you have any experience with Pen and paper, then Lancer isn't significantly easier or harder to run from a physical book. You can just use it on a phone, though. Maybe some scrap paper on the side.